Sunday, October 22, 2006

A Proper Australian BBQ

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye!
Yep, it's time for your favorite Yankee to head back to the States. But first I would like to have a real honest-to-goodness Aussie barbeque in the park.

So, bring your partner, your family, your roommates, and your neighbors and join me in Albert Park on Sunday, 22 October from 11 AM (Cormorant Picnic Area) and we'll enjoy my last weekend in Melbourne in the sunshine!

Albert Park Map
Please forward this to anyone I may have missed!


A little insight into (some of) the American Way, courtesy of wikipedia and EB White:

To foreigners, a Yankee is an American.
To Americans, a Yankee is a Northerner.
To Easterners, a Yankee is a New Englander.
To New Englanders, a Yankee is a Vermonter.
And in Vermont, a Yankee is somebody who eats pie for breakfast.




Nope, I didn't quite make it there at 11. I would have, but since almost everyone I knew went to the races yesterday, I knew that there was no reason to rush. They'd all need some recovery time.

(By the way, the very best excuse I got for not attending goes to Brad, who wrote: I have my Buck's Night (Bachelor Party) tomorrow night so I may well be on a train to Sydney, glad wrapped to a prominent Melbourne landmark or chained nude to a roundabout or children's play equipment on Sunday morning. Even if these don't occur I don't think I will be able to face the outside world on Sunday. Excellent!)

Anyway, Albert Park is right in the middle of town and houses tennis courts, football fields, a skateboarding half-pipe, a lake, picnic grounds, a golf course, soccer fields, and most importantly, it is the home of the Melbourne Grand Prix that happens every year. We had fun making race car sounds as we drove around the lake. Very realistic.


We arrived in waves, some in cars, some on bikes, and the first thing we did was get out the frisbee. A few minutes of good frisbee fun and it ended up in the lake. OK, I threw it into the lake. But only because Richard missed it.

Luckily for us, there were a good number of boaters on the lake that day and we were able to get one to practice his turning skills, rescue it, and fling it back. We put it away for a bit after that though, didn't want to press our luck.

We were able to reserve (thanks Richard!) a ramada with an electric grill for our BBQing needs, but it was a bit chilly in the shade, so most everyone gathered around in the grass to enjoy the sunshine.

Soon enough, another game of frisbee started up.

And soon after that, another frisbee rescue mission was underhand. This time it wasn't even my fault!



The day was pretty relaxed in general, with people coming and going depending on how ambitious their day had been. Francesca and Gabrielle decided to get me a going away present of a giant bubble blower that came in really handy as we all had (probably too much) fun aiming for joggers and bicyclists and swans along the lake with our bubble ammo. Unfortunately Gabrielle received the brunt of the dud bubbles and he had had enough by the time Francesca got into them! (They also gave me a really great card that I'll never be able to translate from their native Italian, but it basically said, "If you are sad, things will get better. If today is not sunny, tomorrow will be." Some Italian rhyming proverb. It sounded nicer than it translates!)

We had all about had enough by around 5, so the party split for points across Melbourne. By the looks of the group in the office on Monday, we all could have probably used a bit more sunscreen, but other than that, it was the perfect BBQ, going-away or otherwise.

Vocab of the Day
Sanga: sandwich. One of the innumerable Aussie shortenings of words.

Instead of using buns for hamburgers or sausages, Aussies use regular bread and make a BBQ sanga.

1 comment:

Mike said...

I'm gonna right miss your blog.